The widespread use of hospital beds having sections or segments which can be tilted or inclined for therapeutic reasons or to provide increased comfort to bedridden patients has also brought with it the problem of slipping or sliding of the patient in the bed as a result of the inclined section. Such beds are widely used in the home as well as at hospital. In most instances the head of the patient is somewhat elevated causing his upper body or trunk to tend to slip or slump toward the foot of the bed. This tendency can, of course, be reversed if his lower body is elevated. The need to elevate patients for therapeutic reasons is constant and reoccurring. Meals, medication and bed pans in addition to respiratory, drainage and other specific therapeutic problems require elevation of the bedridden patient several times during the average day. The gradual gravitation or slipping of the patient down the inclined section of the bed, however, may result in the patient becoming cramped and uncomfortable, nullifying the therapeutic or comfort effects sought to be achieved by inclining the patient.
Various devices and procedures have been evolved in order to enable an attendant to move or reposition a patient who has slipped or gradually moved down an inclined section of a bed. Most of these devices and procedures are adequate if two attendants are present to move the patient. Similarly, such prior devices and procedures are satisfactory if the patient can provide some assistance during the moving procedure. The problems arise, however, when a single attendant, often having less weight than the patient, must single-handedly move a seriously ill and virtually immobilized patient. This occurs not infrequently in the hospital and very often in home care situations. There is a current trend toward more professionalism in both institutional and home health care and yet the current patient moving techniques rely primarily on brute strength, i.e., dragging the patient across the bed linens.
A typical prior art patient moving or repositioning device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,914 in which a laminated sheet-like device is disclosed. The side of the device to be placed upon the bed linens is formed with a low friction material while the other side of the device is formed of a relatively high friction material. The patient can then be rolled onto the laminated sheet and pulled over the bed linens with the low friction side slipping with respect to the bed linens. While under some conditions this patient moving device will function adequately, in many situations it presents drawbacks. The same sliding or slumping of the patient on an inclined surface tends to cause the bed linens and underlying bed pad to become rumpled and uneven. Similarly, the patient's own garments become rumpled and uneven. Additionally, the bed linens can become, and often are, somewhat moist or wet. The net result is that it can be most difficult for a single attendant to slide even a slippery surface over rumpled bed linens when the patient's full weight is pressing his own rumpled garments and the flexible sheet down against the bed linens.
Examples of other devices which have been employed to move a patient or support him in a bed, stretcher or the like are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 942,606; 998,996; 1,098,327; 2,766,463; 3,654,644; and 3,792,500. These devices, however, are either very complex and specialized in nature or provide only limited assistance in attempting to solve the problem of repositioning a patient in a bed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for moving or positioning a patient in a bed which can be used by a single attendant to reposition a totally immobilized patient.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a patient repositioning device which can be used in the home as well as in an institution to provide increased professionalism in patient health care.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device for moving or repositioning a patient which is simple and easy to construct and yet enables movement of the patient without interference from the bed linens or patient's garments.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device for movement of a patient in a bed which is light in weight, easy to manipulate, strong and durable.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a device for moving or positioning a patient in a bed which provides trouble-free operation, requires little maintenance, can be operated by unskilled personnel, is highly sanitary, and is relatively inexpensive to construct.
The patient moving or positioning device of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from and are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawing and following description.